Omensent: Wrath of a Dragon God (35 page)

"We should still send out messengers to carry warning to
our neighbors." Lady Skie reiterated, taking a sip from her ever present cup of tea. "Dragonspawn can be rather unpredictable, and we can't depend on the dragons to be able to prevent
every
dragonspawn from attacking. We may also want to start sending escorts to protect the caravans traveling through the mountains. We don't need a repeat of what happened last year."

"I'll
have the castle soldiers start sending out more men to patrol the trade road." Shirk assured her. "The instant we see any sign of trouble we'll begin escorting the caravans. There's no sense in spending the gold it'll take to pay the men to protect the caravans if the dragonspawn decide to steer clear of us."

Dar sighed heavily. "It seems as though we have done
all this before."

Shirk snorted in amusement. "At least this time we don't have
worry about a shadow dragon dropping from the sky."

"I wish father had
stayed behind." Lady Skie sighed regretfully. "His wisdom would be invaluable to us right now."

"That's true." Dar agreed. "He
designed nearly all of the city defenses. His expertise would be quite helpful if there was another attack on Sevria."

"I wonder where they're at right now."
Lady Skie commented in a wistful tone. "It's been quite some time since they departed, and we haven't heard anything from them. I hope they are safe."

Well," Shirk started, scratching his ponderous belly thoughtfully. "I'm sure they would
have sent word if anything had happened. I'm sure they're just concentrating all of their efforts on recovering Leia from her abductors. Once she is safe and sound, and they have destroyed those responsible, I'm sure they'll send word of their success and imminent return."

Dar frowned. "That's only
if
they are able to save her. The rumors spreading through the dragonspawn are troubling. Slither says they are convinced that the dragon god, Draco, has returned to this world, and I have the nagging suspicion that He may have a hand in everything that has happened. It seems just a bit
too
coincidental that the constellation of Draco disappears from the night's sky on the day of Leia's birth, then, almost exactly one year later, she is abducted by a stranger with extraordinary powers. The gods will
not
take a direct hand in the affairs of mortals, and must use intermediaries to carry out their will. Add that with the fact that being Damion's daughter, Leia
also
has the blood of dragons flowing in her veins, everything begins to point to the dragon god."

"You
truly believe Draco has returned?" Lady Skie's face drained of color.

The child
like sprite shrugged. "I can't be sure, but the evidence is certainly beginning to add up."

"Let's hope your wrong." Shirk grunted in a serious tone. "I'm not sure if Damion is strong enough to face a god, even with the power of the Dragon Sword protecting him."

"If anyone could face down a god and survive, it would be Damion." Lady Skie replied confidently, though her face was still deathly pale. "He is unlike any other man that has ever lived."

"But how do you kill a god?" Shirk asked, throwing his hands in the air
helplessly. "Can they even die?"

"The only way to
destroy a god is to kill all of their children." Dar told the portly thief in a grim tone. "Without worshippers, a god is powerless, and will eventually fade away into nothingness."

"I guess that's out of the question." Shirk grumbled with a note of regret. "Is there no way to force
Him to return to his place in the heavens?"

The freckle faced sprite shook his head. "How do you force a god to anything? No, Draco will only return to his place in the heavens when
He has achieved His purpose here on this world."

"I wish there was some way to get
a warning to Damion." Lady Skie fretted, wringing her hands in worry. "He should know what is happening, and what we have discovered. He could be walking into something that even he can't overcome."

"There's no way to know where they may be right now," Dar told her helplessly. "and by the time the
message reached them, it would probably already be too late."

"Don't worry," Shirk told them confidently. "I'm sure Damion and the others have already came to the same conclusion
that we have. He
does
have Damarius with him, and that crazy old wizard is by far the most intelligent fellow I have ever encountered. I'm sure that he has already put the pieces of the puzzle together."

"Let's hope so." Dar didn't sound as confident. "Otherwise, they could walk unaware right into the lap of the dragon god.
"

************

He stretched out lazily along the stone wall of the elaborate temple plaza, watching idly as several witches approached the altar of flame which dominated the center of the square, representing the elder spirits during the numerous ceremonies which were frequently held in their honor. He enjoyed the feeling of the cold granite against his scales, and found great amusement in watching the comings and goings of the mortals who worshipped in these temples.

Though
he had been watching them for some time now, none of the mortals knew of his presence. It was an easy thing for him to cloud their sight, making them blind to his presence, and allowing him the opportunity to observe these strange mortals in their natural environment.

Strange creatures
, humans were. They were much taken with traditions and rituals, many of which made little sense to him. And they would continue on with these traditions and obscure ceremonies long after their origins were forgotten.

He shook his head in disgust. The
se creatures had proven themselves to be capable of great intelligence, but most chose to wallow in meaningless tradition, and spent a great deal of their time bowing to gods who reigned over them with meaningless rules and forced rituals meant to glorify the god to greater power.

He snorted contemptuously.
He would never force his children to follow a bunch of meaningless rules, or perform rituals meant only to glorify him. Unlike the gods who ruled over the pathetic mortals, he
created
his children. He had no need for their prayers or offerings, only for them to continue to survive.

He snarled in
irritation. That is where the mortals became a problem. They had infested nearly every area of the world, spreading like a disease throughout every corner of the land. Soon, there would be no place safe left for his children to go, and he was
not
going to sit back and wait for that time to come without acting.

He slowly ros
e and stretched his enormous wings. He glanced up into the predawn sky, and noticed the constellation of Estheryal, the Serpent Mother, as she made her appearance for the evening, peeking up over the horizon to look down upon the world with curious eyes. He could feel Her eyes upon him as She appeared, and stopped for a long moment, staring back up at Her with arrogance. "I
will
do this." He grumbled in a whisper that was carried to the heavens on a breeze. "I
will
carry out my plans. Through this child, a new race of dragons will be born, and this world will once again belong to our children."

He turned away, ignoring the stare of displeasure
that the Serpent Mother leveled at him. He knew that She was watching everything he had set into motion very closely, and he knew She disapproved of his actions, but he ignored Her disapproval. He had made his plans, knowing they would mark the beginning of a new era. The era of the dragons.

He took one last glance around at the unknowing humans who milled around the temple plaza,
then launched himself into the sky. It was time he looked in on the mortal tasked by the elder spirits to retrieve the child. Then once he was satisfied everything was going according to his designs, perhaps he would look in on this dragon man.

He soared off into the night, ignoring the gaze of disapproval
that continued to bear down on him from the heavens.

*************

"There appears to be some sort of trouble ahead." Jarom pointed out to Damion as they crested a hill to see the sky in the distance filled with black smoke.

"
There is a farming community just ahead." Jacom commented, his expression thoughtful. "Perhaps the peasants are burning off underbrush to clear the land for planting."

Damarius shook his head. "It's too late in the season for that. The fall harvest is just around the corner
. Farmers would never chance starting a fire near their fields. They could lose all their crops."

"Let's go check it out." Damion decided
. He had a suspicion of what was happening ahead, but chose to remain silent. He nudged Storm with his heels and led them towards the disturbance.

"Perhaps you should ask Snowfeather to scout ahead." Damarius suggested as they drew closer to the source of the smoke.
"We don't want to walk into anything unprepared."

"That's probably not a bad idea." The huge warrior agreed.
"Can you go have a look at what's happening ahead?"
He asked the snow owl, who was perched on his shoulder, sleeping sedately with its head tucked beneath one wing.
"We'd like to know exactly what we would be walking into before we continue."

"It's a little early, wouldn't you say?"
Snowfeather hooted sleepily, holding up a wing to block the setting sun.
"When are you people going to start traveling at a decent hour?"

"You can go back to sleep once we know what's waiting for us ahead."

"Very well."
Snowfeather sighed, launching himself from Damion's shoulder.
"I'll let you know what I find, then I'll go try to find something to eat. I'll return to my nap later."

"I'd appreciate that."

They waited for nearly a half an hour before the snowy owl finally reappeared, dropping down from the sky on silent wings to settle back onto Damion's broad shoulder.
"You're not going to believe this!"